The SureScripts Implementation Guide is intended for application developers. It describes features and data exchange elements that can be used by programs to send and receive electronic prescription messages via the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange™, operated by SureScripts.

In order for an application (i.e. one used by the pharmacy or physician) to use the the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange, operated by SureScripts to implement electronic prescription capabilities, the application must be able to:

• Encode and extract electronic prescription information using a message format that is supported by SureScripts.
• Exchange those electronic prescription messages with SureScripts using a supported communications interface.

An application’s ability to connect to the SureScripts network is independent of the application’s operating platform (e.g. Windows, UNIX, LINUX, etc.). If the application can properly create and interpret messages in a SureScripts supported format and can electronically exchange those messages with SureScripts, the system platform used by the application is transparent to the SureScripts gateway.

The Pharmacy Health Information Exchange, operated by SureScripts supports messages defined in the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) SCRIPT Standard Format Version 8 Release 1 (8.1). The information in the Implementation Guide should be used in conjunction with the SCRIPT 8.1 documents from NCPDP and should not be treated as a substitute for those publications. It is strongly recommended that readers of this document obtain SCRIPT documents by contacting NCPDP at: